


Neighbors

by ichigoangel



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, I swear, M/M, Smut, at some point im sure, not a tragedy!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-27 20:28:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ichigoangel/pseuds/ichigoangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College-graduate Eren and Businessman Levi are neighbors in the apartment complex they live in. With almost nothing in common, it seems unlikely that the two would ever get to know each other. Somehow, they end up closer together than they thought they would. Neighbors!Au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neighbors

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Title: Non-Tragedy!Au.
> 
> I wanted to write something that's all adorable fluff, basically. I have no clue where this project is going to go, but I'll do my best~!
> 
> Rating it Mature right away because I'm like 98.9% sure smut will surface at some point or other. Yeah.

Eren Yeager was new in a city he had only ever been to once; the time that he went hunting for housing within the busy streets of the city that was far larger than any he had been to before. At age twenty-two, the recent college graduate rashly decided to move to the city as soon as graduation came and went. In a world that moved impossibly fast, Eren moved right along with it. With turquoise-green eyes blazing with fierce determination and a head of messy brown hair, Eren confidently stepped out of the airport with nothing but a large black suitcase in tow; the rest of his belongings would be arriving at a later date. He had moved to the city with no solidified plan for his future in place. He was jobless and had opted to rent an apartment that was likely far out of his range of affordability, but had gone for it anyways. Eren had assumed that everything would be easy; the boy had always been rather rash and typically irresponsible.

Because of aforementioned downfalls in his personality, he found himself on the corner of a busy street with a map clutched tightly between his fingers and absolutely no clue how to get to his new home. People barely gave him a second glance as he stood rigid with rapidly increasing irritation over his inability to decipher the map that he hadn’t bothered to look at before that moment. They simply continued on, unable to muster more than a single drop of pity for the confused college graduate. Suddenly the tall buildings and copious amounts of pedestrians surrounding Eren were overwhelming; he’d come from a smaller city than this and had gone on few vacations to cities any larger than his own. He considered hailing a taxi to take him to his home but lacked sufficient amounts of cash, and besides, if he could possibly complete the journey on foot, it was for the better. He had some money to his name, but it wasn’t enough to want to spend it on taxi fares.

He did have his own car, but it wasn’t currently with him. His parents would be driving up his car when they came to visit him that weekend. They would be arriving on Saturday morning after a seventeen hour drive; Eren had tried to convince them that there was no need for that and that he could drive himself to his new home, but they had insisted on seeing the apartment and visiting, anyways. 

It was currently Monday afternoon; around six ‘o clock, according to Eren’s phone. He noticed that he had a text from his sister, Mikasa. She was adopted but she had been around for as long as Eren could remember; he couldn’t even think of a time when she hadn’t been there. Her text was inquiring if he had made it through his flight alright and if he had arrived in the city yet. He replied that yes, he’d made it just fine, but that he was having issues finding his apartment. When she responded back, he could almost hear her motherly sigh through the screen of the black phone held in his hand. She suggested that he try and find somebody who was willing to take the time to help him, and he let out a frustrated groan. From the looks of it, nobody was kind enough to halt their daily motions in favor of helping some clueless asshole fresh out of college.

His eyes once again traveled aimlessly over the map, unable to make sense of the patterns laid in front of him. His efforts were futile; he would accomplish nothing by attempting (and failing miserably) to decipher the map he’d been so sure would help him along.

The best way to describe Eren’s reaction to his inability to find his apartment could best be described as a hissy fit of sorts; he shook the map placed between his hands with wild intensity, as if shaking it would shift into something that made more sense to him. Forgetting that his phone was also in his hand, it also received his anger and as a result slipped out of his hand and skidded along the sidewalk before coming to a halt; the battery fell out along with the back that held it in place, so Eren had to save not only one object but three from the quick feet of other pedestrians. With several desperate shouts and angry gestures with his arms, he managed to rescue all three components of his phone and keep them out of harm’s way. His agitation was clearly evident as he leaned over his suitcase and darted his eyes every which way in a vain attempt to find a solution to his predicament.

Whatever Eren had been expecting to happen, standing lost on the corner of a crowded sidewalk ready to start shouting in frustration was not it. Suddenly Eren felt very small among the tall buildings that surrounded him from every angle.

-x-

Levi had lived in the city for roughly eight years and knew the area inside and out. At age thirty, he held a steady job at a corporate office that paid extremely well. He’d moved to the city right out of college as well; however, unlike Eren Yeager, he hadn’t made a single step forward that wasn’t carefully planned. He hadn’t moved until he had a job lined up, which would turn out to be the job he would keep for many years. The thirty year old possessed black hair that was kept neatly trimmed into an undercut and a pair of perpetually narrowed eyes; constantly furrowed eyebrows rested lightly above his eyes and his thin mouth was always set into a slight frown. Paired with a standoffish and particularly sarcastic personality that often made him come off as rude, Levi was typically viewed as a highly unapproachable person.

Despite a harsh personality, he had managed to accumulate a circle of close friends whom he spent a fair amount of his free time with. Of his friends, he was closest to an auburn-haired young woman named Petra. Petra was the opposite of Levi; she was bubbly and friendly with a warm personality that made people naturally flock to her and constantly seek her approval. What they did have in common, however, was their height. Petra was one of the very few people that Levi knew that was actually shorter than him; at 5’ 3”, he had never grown to be particularly tall. The amount of short jokes his friends made about him was truly astonishing, and while they claimed that the jokes never got old, Levi begged to differ. At least Petra couldn’t say much about his height, considering she was even shorter. 

However, it was more than that which drew the two together; they simply got along, and that was all there was to it. Levi had been fond of Petra from the moment they met at work; he’d already been at his job for a few years before Petra became the newest employee of the corporate office he worked at. She’d offered him a warm smile and greeted him without hesitation, and they ended up becoming great friends. 

And so on Monday afternoon, Levi found himself walking along with Petra in the late-afternoon heat that came with the recent arrival of summer. They were walking home from work, as was typical; it was rarely worth it to try navigating to work by car, since the apartment building they both lived in was close enough to warrant walking. In the winter, however, they often hailed a cab or took one of their cars. They were always able to find their way to work together because of their convenient housing situation. 

Petra was enthusiastically telling Levi about the day’s events when her speech dropped off without warning, which caused Levi to shoot her a questioning look. Petra quickly terminated the silence, however, when she pointed at something off in the distance and spoke.

“Awh, look over there, Levi! He must be new, I’ve never seen him around before.”

Levi didn’t bother to follow Petra’s finger and instead continued to look straight ahead as he responded to her sudden outburst.

“Petra, we live in one of the largest cities in the state. You probably haven’t seen half of the people running around here before.”

“No, no, I’m sure he’s new. He’s got a suitcase right beside him and the poor thing looks like he has no clue where he is or what he’s doing. Come on, look at him.”

Knowing that Petra wouldn’t leave the subject alone until Levi observed for himself whatever Petra was seeing, he looked in the general direction that her finger was pointing to. Sure enough, some kid with brown hair was throwing some sort of fit, wildly shaking what appeared to be a map to and fro. Nobody was paying attention to his fit, Levi noticed; there were far stranger sights to be seen within the city limits, so in all honesty, he didn’t stand out at all as he publicly rode out his apparent anger. Levi and Petra watched as the boy suddenly abandoned his work of shaking the map in favor of crouching down and gathering something into his hands; he seemed quite desperate, Levi decided. Levi continued to watch on for a moment longer with a bored expression before speaking to Petra.

“Alright, I saw it. Let’s go.” Levi began to move forward several steps before realizing with a resigned sigh that Petra wasn’t moving along with him.

“Oh, come on, we should at least help him find whatever it is he’s looking for.” 

“No.”

“Levi.”

“What.”

“You’re just going to walk away and let that poor boy struggle by himself all alone in this huge city?”

“I have every intention to, yes.” Levi responded, rolling his eyes at Petra’s stubborn will to help every lost dog on the side of the road. Because that was exactly what that kid was as he angrily flailed about with the map that apparently didn’t make sense to him; a lost puppy with no clue what to do next. He couldn’t be bothered to deal with such idiocy. 

“Levi, I swear to god.” Petra pouted, crossing her arms in an effort to show Levi how serious she was. 

“…Fine. Only because you’re not going to drop the topic.” 

Petra gave a satisfied grin, knowing that Levi would give in to her at some point.

“I knew you’d come around.” She said cheerily.

“Whatever. Let’s go get this shit over with.” 

“Alright!” 

They both crossed the sidewalk and made their way as quickly as they could manage among the constant rush of pedestrians towards the kid, who had taken to forlornly leaning up against his suitcase in an obvious display of dismay. 

“Oi, kid. What the hell are you doing?”

-x-

Eren had been lost in thought trying to figure out his next move and so he hadn’t realized that two people had approached him. 

“Hey, you, I asked what the hell you’re doing.” 

Eren glanced up to see two individuals standing before him. The one who had spoken was a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties at latest and was remarkably short, given his overall serious and slightly intimidating air about him. Eren thought he’d heard irritation in the man’s voice and Eren felt a prick of annoyance at his tone. 

The second person was a woman who was slightly shorter than the man. She had auburn hair that fell right above her shoulders and she gave Eren a smile as they made eye contact, and he decided that he liked her a hell of a lot more than the douchebag standing beside her. He assumed them to be a couple, because there was no reason for him to think otherwise. 

“Um, I’m sorry?” Eren said, unsure of what to say to the man standing in front of him with his arms crossed.

“Levi, you’re a prick.” The girl rolled her eyes at the man before returning her attention over to Eren.

“Are you lost? You look like you don’t know where to go.” She said gently, and I knew that it had been her idea to offer him some help.

“No, I got it. Thanks, though.” Eren replied, smiling at the woman. He began to walk away with his suitcase, hoping that he could make it look like he had a single fucking clue about what he was doing.

“Hey, you, get back here. Obviously you have no clue where you’re going.” Eren sighed and turned back around.

The woman spoke again. “Well, Levi here can help you find where you need to go. Right, Levi?”

“Excuse me?”

“I need to get going. Wedding stuff, you know. Auruo can’t do anything on his own, of course, and I’m running late for our flower appointment as it is!”

“You’re kidding me.” The man, whose name was apparently Levi, responded.

“Nope! I’ll see you later, Levi.” She turned to Eren. “Oh, by the way, my name is Petra.” She extended her hand for Eren to shake.

“I’m Eren.” He replied as he took her small, dainty hand into his own and shook it. She grinned as they shook hands.

“Nice to meet you, Eren. Sadly, I really must get going now. Bye!” With that, she spun around and crossed the sidewalk, quickly disappearing from sight among the crowd. Somebody bumped into Eren, causing him to stumble. Levi watched disdainfully as Eren stumbled forward and almost fell; he caught himself just in time. Once he straightened back up, Levi addressed him. 

“Alright, let’s get this over with. Where are you going?”

“Ah, it’s…” Eren pulled a slip of paper out of his jean pocket. It had the name of the apartment building he was trying to find; somehow, he’d managed to forget the name of the place.

“Trost Apartment Complex, second building.” Eren read out loud. 

“Are you serious, kid?” Eren shot him a look of confusion; had he gotten the name wrong? There was no reason for the man to be genuinely annoyed at the name he provided him with. 

“Yeah…?” 

“Alright, whatever. I’ll show you the way there.”

“Thank you.” Eren said while offering Levi a sheepish grin. As annoying as the man’s unfriendly attitude was, Eren wanted to lighten the mood. Levi just stared at him for a moment, lips not even upturning the slightest bit. Eren’s smile faltered and he tore his gaze away from Levi’s face, because the eye contact was far too awkward to handle. 

“No problem.” Levi said, but Eren got the feeling that it was out of polite necessity and wasn’t genuine in any shape or form. “Let’s go.” Levi started walking at a quick, steady pace and Eren struggled to keep up despite being significantly taller than him. 

Neither of them spoke during their walk together. Eren wanted to try and at least start some small-talk to make the interaction a bit more natural, but he had no clue where to start with someone so serious and stone-faced. Eren hadn’t checked his phone at all so he didn’t know how long it took them to make it over to Eren’s new home. Levi had known right where it was, which Eren thought was impressive considering it was pretty much some random building. Excitement worked its way back into Eren at the prospect of beginning his new life in the city. 

“We’re here. What room are you?” Levi asked as they walked up to the array of buildings that made up Trost Apartment Complex.

“Fifty-seven.” Levi’s head whipped around and he shot Eren incredulous look. Again, Eren was confused by Levi’s peculiar behavior regarding his responses about his housing. 

“Sounds about right. Well then, let’s go.” Levi started moving towards the door.

“Uh, you don’t have to go inside with me, I can handle it from here…” Eren said hesitantly. Levi rolled his eyes.

“Look, I’m not walking inside the building for your benefit. I would goddamn hope you can walk into a building and find your damn room.”

“Then why…?”

“I live here too, idiot.” Oh. That actually made a lot of sense, Eren decided. That was why Levi didn’t have any issues helping Eren find the building. What a pleasant person to live in his building. As long as he wasn’t in the apartment right next to him, all would be well. He was the last person he wanted to see on the balcony next to his. Not that he knew him very well, because they’d just met. He got the feeling that what he saw was pretty much what he would get with Levi, though. Some short asshole with a temper as short as his body.

They walked into the building together and got in the elevator; Eren’s room was on the fourth floor.

“What floor are you on?” Eren asked, ready to push the button for his floor as well.

“Four.” Levi said as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the elevator wall. They were the only people in the elevator at the moment, so more silence ensued. Eren found himself wondering what Levi’s room number was. 

“Fifty-seven’s right over here.” Levi said, motioning for Eren to follow him. 

“Thanks for all your help.”

“Yeah. Try not to be too loud and obnoxious, alright, brat?” He said as he started to walk away; he only walked forward a few feet, however, before he stopped again. He pulled a key away from his pocket and Eren stared as he opened to door to Apartment #58, the apartment directly next to Eren’s. 

“Oi, stop staring and get going.” Levi said before disappearing into his own apartment. Eren shook his head and unlocked the door to his new home, stepping inside and taking a deep breath. His new life had just begun.

And it included an asshole neighbor. 

Gotta love neighbors, Eren thought with a fair level of sarcasm as he shut the door behind him and stepped into his new apartment.


End file.
